Thoughts about WWDC

I have had a few days to digest everything that Apple announced at the WWDC keynote, as well as having read a lot of the reactions from various Mac and Apple related websites. To me, Tim Cook and company did a fantastic job, and from the opening part of the keynote using SIRI to tell jokes, it was an entertaining and grand display only Apple seems to be able to do so well. I really wish I had been present.

The new Mac Book Pro with the retina display is a truly awesome machine. I think Apple hit the ball out of the park again. It will be amazing and amusing to see how the PC laptop makers scramble to come out with the “Mac Book Pro” killers and badly fail as they have tried in attempting to match the Mac Book Air. The only “downside” to the model is that it is pricy and, to me, is a bit out of my range for my purposes of upgrading my current MBP.Read all about the new Mac Book Pro here.

The standard Mac Book Pro line and the Mac Book Airs have been updated as well. They now all use the Intel Ivy Bridge processors, and I believe I will be getting a 13 inch MBP some time soon. From a practicality standpoint for my situation, this is the best choice, though I will be opting for the SSD storage instead of physical hard drive. I found it interesting that some folks were surprised that Apple retired the 17 inch Mac Book Pro model, as this was a very strong rumor sited in a number of places over the last month or two.I can’t wait until iOS 6 comes out. I think there are going to be a lot of cool features. This goes beyond the new maps as well. And can some people stop harping on the existing bugs that we know are present in VoiceOver and make ridiculous declarations about Apple’s commitment to accessibility. Can we try to understand that blind people are a very small segment of the user base for iOS devices and that VoiceOver is not going to get highlighted in every keynote or in every listing of new features and improvements for a new iOS or Mac OS. I know some blind people get offended when they are told this, but the world does not revolve around our accessibility and accessibility is not a priority to mainstream technology companies. That’s just a reality, like it or not.

Mountain Lion is coming in July. Again, there are plenty of features that will be in the new Mac OS. This includes Reminders and Notes applications like iOS currently has, a Notifications Center, improved iCloud integration, and a Messages application, among some 200 new features. And, before that inevitable question is asked about whether anything new is coming for VoiceOver in Mountain Lion,read all about it here

It simply amazes me how well Apple pulls off these events. Some wondered if they could continue to do so without Steve Jobs, but this keynote was certainly something out of what we would have seen if Jobs was still alive. Yeah, no talk about the next iPhone, a mini iPad or some sort of Apple television, but this didn’t surprise me at all. I think what we did see was a continuation of Apple’s innovation and cutting edge products that others will scramble to copy and claim they do better. Even the things that might already be out there, Apple just seems to take them to new levels and make the competition look like they are ten years behind. Yeah, I’m talking about Google and Microsoft ….

If you want to listen to the keynote and subscribe to Apple events podcasts, here is a link that was supplied by Richard Turner on the ViPhone email list.